Prospective Jeopardy! host Mike Richards addresses past allegations as some fans cry foul

Right after Trebek’s death very last November, Sony introduced in a series of guest hosts to move in soon after the previous host’s final episodes experienced aired.

Richards — who joined the display very last yr as its government producer and previously hosted Substantial Faculty Reunion and Beauty and the Geek and was the executive producer of the sport shows Let’s Make a Deal and The Selling price Is Suitable — impressed Sony with his phase existence and means to chat with contestants when he filled in as guest host in February, in accordance to Assortment.

But some lovers of the display have taken to Twitter to display they aren’t as amazed, in particular in gentle of reports that Richards was between the defendants named in numerous lawsuits submitted all through his 10-yr profession as government producer of The Selling price Is Suitable.

Past lawsuits path Richards

In 2010, a lawsuit submitted by previous Price model Brandi Cochran accused Richards of firing her mainly because she was pregnant while one more lawsuit submitted in 2011 by model Lanisha Cole claimed she was subject to harassment on the set of the sport display, Assortment documented.

Each fits inevitably resulted in settlements, the journal mentioned.

According to court docket filings, Richards mentioned the motive Cochran was not acquired back was mainly because the display designed alterations in the on-air lineup of versions, Variety reported. And Richards was dismissed as a plaintiff in Cole’s suit in 2013 and the case was settled out of court docket. 

In an internal notice despatched to Jeopardy! workers on Monday, Richards addressed the allegations.

“I want you all to know that the way in which my feedback and actions have been characterized in these problems does not replicate the fact of who I am or how we labored alongside one another on The Selling price is Suitable,” Richards mentioned in the notice.

“I would not say anything to disrespect anyone’s being pregnant and have always supported my colleagues on their parenting journeys.”

However, those people lawsuits make Richards the improper man or woman to exchange a beloved host like Trebek, suggests Stacy Lee Kong, founder of the pop culture newsletter Friday Matters.

“He are unable to move into Alex Trebek’s sneakers. He would not experience like he is a deserving successor or the man or woman to consider this brand into the foreseeable future,” mentioned Lee Kong.

“None of the things that I’ve learned about Mike Richards tends to make me believe that he deserves that function.”

Ken Jennings, LeVar Burton between admirer favourites 

A July online poll by OnePoll that surveyed one,003 People in america about their views on new guest hosts put former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings as the favorite to realize success Trebek, adopted by Richards and LeVar Burton, the past host of the PBS Kids instructional tv series Looking through Rainbow.

Burton was a guest host on Jeopardy! from July 26-30. In 2013, he tweeted that hosting Jeopardy! would be his “aspiration job,” and in April, lovers started off an on line petition to nominate him as host, garnering more than 200,000 signatures.

Unsurprisingly, Burton’s supporters say they felt allow down by news that Richards was the primary prospect.

Burton’s track record as an instructional tv series host makes him the ideal in shape for Jeopardy!, said Yolanda Machado, a news editor with the pop culture web-site Nerdist.

“To me, the only pure change from Trebek would be to a person that highlighted training and learning — and that a person is LeVar Burton,” mentioned Machado.

“So several of us grew up with him getting our url to our training outside the house of faculty.”

Branching out from the regular

Picking out Burton as host would also allow for the display to superior depict its viewers, mentioned Machado. Going ahead with one of the other primary candidates is a missed opportunity, she mentioned.

“This suggests that the community clearly does not care about an viewers need, or they are refusing to identify that the people that are talking out and saying ‘Hire LeVar Burton’ are their demographics as effectively,” she mentioned.

“It is really apparent that they really don’t even consider that marginalized groups are element of their viewers.”

Claire McNear, author of Responses in the Kind of Inquiries: A Definitive Record and Insider’s Guidebook to Jeopardy!, spoke with Trebek a quantity of situations as she labored on her e book.

“What he did say to me is that he was incredibly informed of the truth that sport-display hosts have traditionally [been] and are now overwhelmingly white males,” mentioned McNear.

“I believe he was fascinated in at the very least getting Sony look incredibly seriously at any person who was not white or not a man, just to branch out from this regular mould.”

In response to the assistance he is obtained from lovers, Burton a short while ago tweeted: “I have mentioned several situations above these previous months that no make a difference the consequence, I’ve won.”

“The outpouring of appreciate and assistance from household, good friends, and lovers alike has been outstanding! If appreciate is the ultimate blessing and I believe that it is, I am certainly blessed further than evaluate.”

Analyzing the promotion from producer to host

Richards acknowledged in his internal workers notice that he was requested if he would consider hosting Jeopardy! He mentioned no final selections have been designed and discussions with both of those him and other likely hosts are ongoing.

Richards also mentioned that picking the everlasting Jeopardy! host is not — and has hardly ever been — his final decision.

But McNear suggests some eyebrows will inevitably be lifted if Richards ended up to make the soar from show producer to permanent host.

“It was kind of jarring to see the government producer be the one who is reportedly likely to turn out to be the host,” she mentioned. 

Some lovers on social media when compared Richards to Dick Cheney, who led George W. Bush’s vice-presidential research right before getting named vice-president himself.

Without the need of realizing the facts of how a host is picked out, Lee Kong says the prospect of Richards stepping into the position does increase the public’s suspicions.

“None of the optics right here are superior,” mentioned Lee Kong. “We really don’t know the facts, [so] it opens the door for us to see these probably innocuous things in a far more sinister gentle.”

In his notice, Richards mentioned that Sony’s leading priority has always been to continue the legacy designed by Trebek and Jeopardy! lovers, saying the sport and its contestants will continue to be guiding ideas as the final decision for a everlasting host is designed.

This 7 days marks the final 7 days of the latest time of Jeopardy!, with sportscaster Joe Buck serving as guest host.